The spring light was perfect, with new greenery stretching endlessly. The fresh air carried a faint floral fragrance, with birds singing and insects chirping near and far. The scenery was delightful and refreshing to the spirit.
The ladies were raised in deep seclusion, naturally never stepping outside their front gates or beyond their second doors. Although every family had gardens at home, artificially created scenery was naturally different from such rustic charm.
Moreover, the higher they climbed along the gentle slope, the more varieties of rare flowers and exotic plants there were. Combined with the glory and pride of accompanying the Empress on her outing, even the Old Madam, who usually required a sedan chair just to tour a garden, now found her steps light and her mood joyful as she walked.
Hearing of the Empress’s arrival, the eunuchs guarding the garden had already come down to meet them. They approached, paid their respects, and prepared to guide the Empress’s party.
“Your Majesty the Empress, this way please.”
The Empress lightly smoothed her cloud-like hair with her delicate hand, her red lips slightly curved, saying lazily: “No need for your service here. Don’t disturb this palace’s mood.”
The Empress’s formidable reputation was known throughout the court. How could the eunuch dare to object? He could only bow and retreat, anxiously following behind the ladies with the guards.
Walking slowly and leisurely while enjoying the scenery, the Old Madam and other noble ladies all clustered around the Empress. Though breathing heavily from the walk, they didn’t forget to praise the scenery as something that existed in heaven but not on earth, and continuously praised the Empress’s imperial favor as unparalleled in the world. This pleased the Empress greatly, her face radiant with spring-like joy as she generously shared her laughter.
Qin Yining supported the panting Sun Shi as they walked at the back of the group. Not fawning over or flattering the Empress, she simply enjoyed the scenery and spoke quietly to Sun Shi: “Mother, how are you feeling? Are you tired?”
“I’m alright. You have a good physical foundation, but I’ve really become weak from years of idleness.” Sun Shi waved her hand with a laugh while catching her breath.
Qin Yining smiled gently: “From now on, Mother should walk two circles around the garden with me every morning. Your health will definitely get better and better.”
Sun Shi shook her head and laughed. Looking up, she saw a dense peach grove not far away and couldn’t help but exclaim admiringly: “Look at those peach blossoms over there—they’re truly beautiful!”
Like everyone else, Qin Yining looked ahead.
She saw a stretch of pale pink warm clouds extending into the distance—delicate branches adorned with makeup in varying shades across a vast expanse.
Perhaps due to the underground warm springs in the mountain, while the peach blossoms at home had just formed buds, the peach blossoms here were already blooming in clusters, half-concealing the azure sky.
The group of ladies continued forward along the winding path through the peach grove. As gentle breezes passed, hair and garments fluttered, petals scattered, covering everyone with a faint fragrance. They could hear the babbling of water beside the path, and looking down, they saw fallen petals flowing into the water as clear waves chased the red blooms away.
After walking several dozen more steps, they suddenly saw brand-new pink walls and black tiles appear before them. Behind the walls, they could vaguely see carved eaves and brackets, with exquisite new buildings that made one feel as if they were in a celestial mountain.
“Oh my, it’s been so long since I’ve seen such beautiful peach blossoms.”
“Indeed, if not for Your Majesty the Empress’s favor, we common wives would truly have no opportunity to see such fairyland-like scenery.”
“Only Your Majesty the Empress, with such national beauty and heavenly fragrance, deserves to possess such a celestial palace.”
…
The ladies chattered away—no one spoke loudly, nor did anyone deliberately try to engage the Empress in conversation, yet their voices were perfectly pitched for the Empress to hear clearly.
The Empress at the front smiled charmingly, proudly stepping forward while the winding procession of ladies continued to follow behind with quiet admiration.
Meanwhile, the young eunuch responsible for guiding at the back had already turned pale as death.
After walking several dozen more steps to reach the entrance, the ladies looked up admiringly at the plaque, only to see the characters “Ning Garden” written in flowing calligraphy on the black lacquered board.
The Empress froze, glancing sideways at the palace attendant beside her: “When did this palace’s Changchun Garden change its name? How does this palace not know about it?”
Everyone was also puzzled and began whispering to each other.
The young eunuch approached with a mournful face, quickly kneeling and kowtowing: “In response to Your Majesty the Empress, this place is not Changchun Garden. Just now, just now we took the wrong path.”
The ladies were quite surprised and all stopped their conversations.
The Empress frowned deeply, saying coldly: “What? After walking all this way, this place isn’t even Changchun Garden? How does this palace not remember there being such an additional place on Changchun Mountain!”
The young eunuch knelt on the ground trembling. Just moments ago he had wanted to guide them, but the Empress wouldn’t let him serve nearby!
The Empress was also somewhat embarrassed.
As Empress, she naturally had to accompany the Emperor daily and had very few opportunities to occasionally leave the palace with the Emperor. Visiting family or going on outings were not easy matters.
Although the Emperor had granted her Changchun Garden, she had only visited once last year to bathe in the hot springs. At that time, a group of people had accompanied her, so naturally there was no need for an empress to remember the way. Now that she was on the mountain, she naturally assumed there was only her own Changchun Garden on the mountain, never thinking that all the scenery they had been admiring along the way actually belonged to someone else’s garden.
“Worthless slave, how did you serve!” The managing nanny beside the Empress kicked the eunuch in the shoulder, sending him rolling on the ground.
The eunuch was terrified and repeatedly kowtowed: “Empress, spare my life! Empress, spare my life!”
The Empress impatiently pursed her red lips. Thinking that there was still a group of people behind her and she couldn’t lose the dignity of the nation’s mother, she could only suppress her anger and say lazily: “Forget it, it’s not a big matter. We came out to enjoy ourselves anyway. Since we took the wrong path, we’ll just walk back.”
“Your Majesty the Empress speaks truly. This place has fresh air and bright sunshine—chatting and laughing while walking also feels pleasant.” Imperial Uncle’s wife smiled.
Everyone immediately echoed her words, and the awkward atmosphere instantly eased.
The eunuch quickly got up and led the way at the front.
The Empress felt somewhat better and, surrounded by the group of noble ladies, walked back along the peach grove path, heading toward another slightly wider bluestone road.
Only then did the Empress realize that the path through the peach grove they had taken earlier was entirely newly opened dirt road, while this bluestone brick road was the original old route to Changchun Garden.
However, the Empress’s good mood and the noble ladies’ words of praise gradually faded as they continued forward.
With the fairyland-like scenery of that place setting such a high standard, the path leading to Changchun Garden now seemed utterly unremarkable. The few flowering crabapple trees by the roadside bloomed well enough, but they ultimately couldn’t compare to the shocking beauty of the palace-like “Ning Garden.”
Meanwhile, the noble ladies had already exhausted their flattering words along the previous route. Faced with this dry scenery, they could only force themselves to use words like “rustic” and “elegant” against their conscience.
The Empress’s expression grew increasingly ugly.
By the time they reached the entrance of Changchun Garden, the Empress’s face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
The earlier Ning Garden had had new pink walls, magnificent vermillion doors, and visibly new buildings throughout the compound.
But Changchun Garden had half-old red walls with open gates. Though the eunuchs knelt in welcome with proper ceremony, the half-old courtyards and unremarkable garden visible through the open gates truly filled the Empress with deep disgust.
The Empress frowned and scolded in a low voice: “How did you prepare to receive this palace! Where exactly did that garden just now come from!”
Though the Empress spoke quietly, the people behind were not far away and heard every word clearly.
The eunuch guarding the garden had been specially instructed by Imperial Uncle Cao. Seeing the Empress inquire, he quickly stepped forward and said quietly: “In response to Your Majesty, that garden was previously ordered to be built by Imperial Uncle. The garden’s owner has a very significant background. Imperial Uncle said to ask Your Majesty to pay it no mind.”
The Empress gritted her teeth, unable to express her anger, and finally squeezed out: “Aren’t they afraid of exceeding their station!”
With that, she stepped across the threshold first.
Seeing the Empress’s displeasure, the ladies all restrained themselves and followed inside, not daring to speak loudly anymore for fear of angering the already embarrassed Empress.